


Get Lucky

by shoutpoles



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dangan Island, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7531951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoutpoles/pseuds/shoutpoles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagito tries to teach Hajime how to get lucky. Hajime eventually does, but maybe in a different way. Island Mode AU; rating will go higher in future chapters; spoilers for DR2 endgame.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Squish, squish!” Saionji cried, chasing after the jabbacrabs that had nowhere to hide. The entire beach was once littered with shells; it looked bare after everything had been gathered up. Hinata looked around the shore, trying to spot if there were any more.

 So far, no such luck. Almost all of them were already in the plastic buckets they used to collect materials. The others seemed to have given up on finding them, even. Saionji seemed to be going after the jabbacrabs, while Peko was helping Fuyuhiko by striking coconuts off the trees with her shinai. That bamboo sword was pretty useful. The way Peko used it so creatively and gracefully—like an extension of her own body, even—made Hinata grateful that he wasn't enemies with the swordswoman.

  _Thunk!_

The sound of a coconut hitting sand startled him out of his thoughts. Hinata stared at his half-empty bucket of shells. He could go look for other supplies but they were still lacking in seashells for the flower pins that Usami wanted them to make. Plus, he felt that he could definitely gather more. The seashells were lurking somewhere here. He just knew it.

 This was just like yesterday. He was at the coast that time, and he didn’t have much luck with seashells either. At the end of that day, Komaeda went up to him and told him how shells from the deep would wash up on the beach based on some book he read off the library. So today he went to the beach, but it seemed like the seashells were still taking their sweet time hiding in the sea.

 Wind blew, its coolness signalling the end of the afternoon. The sun was starting to set; there wasn’t much time left to gather materials. From far away, he could spot Sonia leading the others across the bridge. The ultimates on the beach were already finishing up, buckets full of material in tow. Not wanting to leave with his current measly gatherings, Hinata hurriedly scooped some sand into two other empty containers.

 Two buckets of sand should be good enough. He was about to finish filling up the second one when a pincer emerged from the sand and pinched his fingers.

 “Ow!” Hinata yelped. A jabbacrab appeared to have buried itself under the sand, in an attempt to hide from Saionji. Startled at the activity near its hiding place, it latched onto the boy's fingers with an even tighter grip. Hinata waved his arm frantically to try and dislodge the creature. He overbalanced, kicked a sand-filled bucket over, and fell to the ground.

 The world went black.

~

 

"͞If you͟ ҉j͠u̡st ̢d͟o i̸t,̕ ͟t͏hi̧ngs͞ ͏w̨il̶l̷ ́ţúr͝n ́o̡u͢ţ ̛o̴ka͏y.̨"͞

 

t̡hi͝ngś

҉

w͡i͝ll ͏

̵

t͘urǹ

 

҉o̷̶u͏҉̧ţ͢

 

̛͎̭̯̞́o͉͖͕̬̱͘ ̡̻̗̱͔̫̥̪̞̬k̛̮͕̥̩̰͓͝ ͎̘̟͎̝̣̳̤͞͡ͅa̱̮͇̺̫̼̕ ̷͏̮͇̻y̵̗̭͉̥͈̭͖ͅ

 

~

 

Hinata came to consciousness with a pounding head. It felt like his eyeballs were burning as he tried to focus them on the blurry faces above him. “What…”

 A few moments later, his vision started improving enough to see the worried looks on some of their faces. Komaeda’s face came into view particularly. He was up close, sporting a worried frown. Hinata concentrated on Komaeda's visage to ground himself. He was rewarded with a clear view of the boy’s lips curving up into a smile.

 “Everyone! Hinata-kun’s awake!” Komaeda loudly proclaimed, seemingly back to his usual cheerful self.

 Hinata looked around. Everybody was loosely gathered around him, but some started to come closer upon hearing that he was alright.

“What happened, soul friend?” said Souda with a worried look on his face.

 “I tripped and lost my balance, that’s all,” said Hinata, flustered. He still couldn’t believe that a  _jabbacrab_  got the best of him.

 “Are you suuuuuuure? I saw  _everything_.” Saionji leaned in close with her signature wide-eyed look. Hinata couldn't even get a word in before the Ultimate Traditional Dancer yelled, “I can’t believe you’re that uncool!” Her maniacal laughter that followed wrinkled sections of her kimono, but she didn't notice. 

 “That’s not--” began Hinata, sitting up. Damn. He wanted the world to swallow him up. She kept shrieking “so uncool!” after each deep breath.

 Amidst Saionji’s teasing, Tsumiki leaned down and examined Hinata’s hand. “H-hinata-kun, are you wounded? I-it looks like you were attacked by a jabbacrab...” the Ultimate Nurse started unpacking her first aid kit.

 “You know w-w-what… it’s okay to fall down like that, sometimes...” continued Tsumiki, stuttering. She nervously applied ointment and bandaged Hinata’s injured hand.

Hinata nodded sympathetically and winced. "I still can't believe I did that, though."

Gathering courage, Tsumiki gulped and finished with, "I... I fall down a lot, too! You can d-depend on me when you're injured... depend on me completely!”

 "Thank you, Tsumiki-san. I won't get injured again," said Hinata. The boy could feel Tsumiki's eyes zeroing on him as she checked for additional injuries. It looked like she wanted him to have  _more_  injuries, what the hell? Chills went down Hinata's spine. Tsumiki finished and was no longer preoccupied with tending to Hinata’s injury; she noticed his reaction and blanched.

 “Ah... I-I forgot to get ahold of myself again..” Tsumiki said tearfully. “I-I'm terribly sorry! I'm terribly sorry...!” she ran off.

 Before Hinata could even make sense of what just happened, Tsumiki had disappeared from his sight. A quick scan around the shore made him realize that so had the others; they already headed off to the restaurant for dinner while he was talking to Tsumiki. Sighing, he picked himself up off the ground and looked around for the materials he collected.

 “One bucket of sand and a half-full bucket of shells, hmm?” said a voice inquisitively. Hinata jumped and looked around for the source— there it was. The shadow of a palm tree almost hid Komaeda as he leaned over the collected materials. He met Hinata's eyes and smiled.

 “I know it’s not a lot. But after all that’s happened...” Hinata could feel the hot flush of embarrassment creeping back into his cheeks. While it was true that he had a reason for why he had gathered so few materials today, he also knew that him bringing home the fewest spoils was an ongoing trend. “I’ll just have to do a better job tomorrow. We won’t get the flower hairpins done in time if we’re still missing seashells.”

 “Don’t worry about it, that’s been taken care of.” Komaeda said, holding up a bucket overflowing with them. “I got pretty lucky today! I was looking at your bucket and worrying about the same thing while you were unconscious earlier,” he continued matter-of-factly, as if Hinata didn’t just become the Ultimate Embarrassment just then. “Suddenly, a wave washed up on the shore and deposited a ton of shells there!” Komaeda pointed at an indentation in the sand. It was where the other boy looked for materials but found a jabbacrab instead.

 Hinata deflated.

 “I understand, Hinata-kun. Surely not knowing what your ultimate power must be hindering you.” Komaeda hummed, picking up the buckets and walking close to Hinata.

 “What do you mean?” asked the other boy. He sat facing the shore and waited for Komaeda to do the same.

 Surely enough, he did. “Even I manage to use my pitiful luck to gather more efficiently. The others are doing a much more amazing job than me, and I am sure that you would perform a lot better if you had a skill to fall back on.”

 The stars twinkled at Hinata as he thought about what Komaeda said. It was true; he’d witnessed that at the beach. He’d seen Saionji break into graceful kabuki poses to effortlessly squish jabbacrabs under her feet. Peko and her shinai sword took care of harvesting all the coconuts. Fuyuhiko’s yakuza leader abilities let him guide Peko on where exactly to strike, and it definitely helped that he knew his way around a knife.

 “That does make sense,” Hinata said, softly. Somehow, the idea that everybody knew what they were talented at but he didn’t… he felt a little left out. As if the others were in a class of their own.

 “But as long as I don’t know what my talent is,” Hinata continued on a determined note. “I’ll just have to try twice as hard as everybody until I find out.”

 Komaeda chuckled. “As expected of an ultimate. If you don’t mind taking advice from someone like me, I was thinking if for a way to help.” He took a brief pause.

“If it somehow makes gathering easier for you... maybe I can teach you how to get lucky?" This caught Hinata's attention. He stared at the other boy, mystified. Komaeda continued, "Not that I think my talent is something worth knowing, but if there’s anyone who can learn and benefit from it, I think it could be you.”

 “How does that even work?” Hinata started. He didn't want to pretend to be something he wasn't. Could he even learn how to be lucky? This was just going to end in disappointment, wasn't it.

A few moments later he continued, “I don’t know, Komaeda-kun. But thank you for the offer.” Luck like that must be amazing, though… Hinata shook his head. He had to leave before he thought of stupid things again.

 “Ah, also as expected.” Hinata could see Komaeda smile wryly as he spoke. “Thank you for hearing out trash like me anyways.”

 Hinata hastily picked up his buckets and made to leave. “We should get going now, Hanamura-san doesn’t like it when people are late for dinner.” Wordlessly, Komaeda followed.

 

~

 

Glowing red eyes.  _Y̬_ _͍_ _̙̥o̘̤̲̱̖̕_ _͙_ _̩u̺ ̢̼c_ _͓_ _̥̫̘̫a̭̮̹_ _͚͇_ _̬n̡_ _͇͚_ _̛̦̳̼̜d̹̙̥́_ _͕͈_ _̖ͅo i̘̫_ _͓_ _̘̺ͅt_ _͖͘_ _._ _͉_

 

Pure white hair.  _I̵_ _͎_ _̯_ _͖_ _t_ _͇͕͍͜_ _’_ _͚_ _̫̭̟̰̘̙s̮̮_ _҉_ _̥̥yo_ _͎_ _̝̣̳̲ur̷̫̳ f_ _͡_ _̬̦̬̙u̮̹̼̫_ _͍_ _̥ṭ̹̟̫u̶re̶̪_ _͎_ _̻̟̙._ _͚_ _̱̫_

 

A formidable aura.  _Y_ _͎_ _̭ọ̤_ _͍_ _u̷̫̭̝̼_ _͉͙͕_ _͚͇_ _̲̲̰̤̩c̝̼̹̕a̶_ _͍_ _̹ͅ_ _͚_ _̲_ _͔_ _n̳_ _͇_ _̤ ̬́_ _͓_ _̖̗̭̫̬d_ _͕_ _o_ _͉͓͚_ _̩̯̖ ̝_ _͖_ _̻_ _͖_ _̤̻_ _͉_ _i_ _͝_ _̳̮_ _͉_ _̭_ _͙_ _ṱͅ_ _͈_ _̱._ _͙_ _̮_

 

He was staring at his reflection.

 

 _I_ _ͧ͐͋_ _̊_ _͠_ _̱̘f̔̃̉_ _͂ͩ͡_ _̺_ _͙_ _͋_ _̏̑̈́̕_ _͉_ _̱̦̳̘̖_ _͎_ _y_ _ͯ_ _̒_ _͐͗_ _̞̺̲̥̂̃ŏ̉̄̌u̮̐̎_ _͖_ _ͦͧ_ _̞̖_ _͇_ _̟d̆̇̚_ _͢_ _̲̻_ _͍͍͈_ _̝o_ _͌_ _̈_ _ͬ_ _̗̘́_ _͎_ _̙_ _͆ͬͮ̓_ _̔̒̆_ _҉_ _ǐ̇_ _ͧ_ _̟̲̎t_ _͘_ _̻_ _͔_ _̯,̠̮̼_ _͈_ _̟ ̸̏t̆_ _ͨͬ_ _̊̄̐_ _͔_ _ͅh_ _ͦ_ _̉í_ _ͫ_ _̉_ _ͥͧ_ _̭_ _͎_ _̝_ _͕͈_ _̫n̪̥̻̕_ _͕_ _̼ǧ̍_ _ͣ_ _̷̥̲s_ _ͤ_ _̀̅_ _ͣ_ _̫̠̘̌̈́̋_ _͖_ _̙̥_ _͔_ _̽_ _ͧ_ _̽_ _͊_ _̓_ _ͥ͗_ _̣̣̲̗̖w_ _͝_ _̺̫i_ _̓ͧͦ͗_ _̏_ _͕_ _̩̤_ _͚_ _̰̖̮l_ _͒_ _̋̔̇_ _͋_ _̗̒̾_ _͔_ _̭̠̹l_ _ͩ_ _̧̠̩́́̚_ _͓_ _̙̻_ _͂_ _̍_ _͛_ _̬_ _͉_ _̫̩̯t_ _͑_ _̀_ _͆ͥ͂_ _̿_ _͟_ _̺̩ͅu_ _͊_ _̲̔̑̀r_ _ͯ_ _̑_ _͡_ _̟̦̲̻̥̼n̉_ _ͮͩ_ _̍̉̒_ _͖_ _̘̰_ _͓͚_ _̰̟ ̥̞̻̘̂̂̍̑_ _͚͓_ _ỏ̈̊_ _͖͌_ _̮̣_ _͕_ _̞_ _͙_ _u̬̐ͅt_ _͋ͩ_ _̂̃̀ ̃̉̇̌_ _͐_ _̜̯̳̂̀_ _͕_ _ò_ _͑ͪ_ _̏̐_ _͙_ _̥_ _͇_ _k_ _ͣ_ _̏̚a_ _͗ͩͫͥ͘_ _̫̝̗y_ _͗_ _̉_ _͊ͯ_ _̛̪̠̖̖̻̙._ _ͪ͐_ _̭̩̯̗̕ͅ_

 

Hinata woke up.

~

 

Did the Usami announcement already go on? It felt too early, but something must have woken him up. Komaeda started ticking things off his mental checklist. Chest pain? None. Cerebrospinal fluid trickling out of his ears? Nope. He could feel sensation in his toes and fingertips; he probably wouldn't die today. Maybe, if his luck had anything to say about that...

 He put that thought aside and went back to thinking of why he woke up so early. It was just in time for him to focus on the impatient knocking on his door. There it was.

 A killer? A friend? What would luck bring him, first thing in the morning? Komaeda walked up to the door and opened it. Hinata stood outside, in what looked like his pyjamas.

 "Hinata-kun?"

 “About your offer last night. If it’s still on the table, I want to do it.” Hinata said hurriedly. He was nervously picking on the hem of his shirt.

 Komaeda’s eyes widened in surprise. “You want to… borrow my luck? Or learn it?”

 “I think it would be better if there was some way I could learn it,” Hinata continued. He stopped playing with the hem of his clothing and looked earnestly at Komaeda. “I don’t want to become a burden to the rest. And I have a feeling...” his voice took on a determined tone, “that if I do it, things will turn out okay.”

Komaeda could almost feel the warm, burning aura of hope forming in Hinata. What luck! Giddy with excitement, Komaeda replied, “I’m sure that Hinata-kun can do anything he puts his hope into!”

He went on. "I gave it some thought last night... and realized that it could be a foolish idea. My luck has affected so many people in negative ways."

Komaeda thought back to when he couldn't sleep last night. Aside from the usual insomnia, he realized how suicidal it could be for Hinata to have luck like him. But the hope burning brightly before him changed his mind.

Maybe Hinata-kun was the strong hope destined to clash with his weaker one; he could never pass up an opportunity to be a stepladder for such greatness. _Poetry in motion…_ "I believe in Hinata-kun. We can surely give it a try at the very least."

 Hinata nodded. "Let’s start after breakfast."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like laughing every time I typed the word "bucket". It's Homestuck's fault.
> 
> Gosh I'm so sleepy and I just want to get this posted. If there are any typos etc please comment and I will try to fix it as soon as I am awake.
> 
> Edit: A bit more awake and combing through the post. Looks like I had too much fun with the zalgo text generator, but it gives a nice feel. "If you do it, things will turn out okay" is one of the motivating things Chiaki says to Hinata to help him become awakened in the last trial.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting luck is harder than Hajime thought. Also, a lot of random laughing.

“We can start from there,” Komaeda said conversationally. He and Hinata were walking towards the coast on the fifth island, just off of Vendor Street. “Any questions?”

_ This is a good time to ask about how I can get your luck without me or all my relatives dying-slash-catching a debilitating terminal disease _ , Hinata’s mind offered as a reply. He gamely ignored it, finished chewing his bite of takoyaki and swallowed. “What’s the plan, then?”

“We get some bad luck. Then we get good luck and a lot of shells.” The Ultimate Lucky Student’s smile had a predatory glint, sharp enough to cut. Hinata didn’t really know what to say to that, so he just stuffed the last ball of takoyaki in his mouth. Chew, chew, swallow, wait. The waiting paid off.

“Usually, the pattern of my luck goes like this: I get bad luck, then even greater good luck. I can’t control my luck completely, but I can manipulate it sometimes by inflicting bad luck on myself before I try to do something that I need good luck for.” The brightness spreads across Komaeda’s face like wildfire, lighting him up as if he was an albino christmas tree. If there was kind that flailed its arms when excited about the topic it’s talking about.

It’s a little hard to not get caught up in the boy’s enthusiasm. By the time Komaeda was done with his little spiel, Hinata found his lips reluctantly curving to match the smile on the other boy’s face. He asked, “How do you inflict bad luck on yourself?”

“That’s simple! I hurt myself.” Hinata’s smile faltered. “The more it hurts, the unluckier it is.” It wavered into a grimace. “The more important the thing you want to get lucky at is, the harder you have to try as well.” His lips formed a straight line. 

“If I wanted to get picked for drawing straws for something, I’d just need to nick my thumb and that would be enough. But let’s say I wanted something really life changing, I might have to slash my thighs and stab myself in the stomach!“ Hinata’s smile dropped altogether and was replaced with a tight frown. 

Komaeda remained oblivious to the other boy’s reaction. “Sometimes I think about what would happen if I killed myself in the name of luck. The result would truly be amazing!” He closed his eyes, as if in utter bliss. Then he started laughing so gleefully that the confused Hinata couldn’t help but let out a tense chuckle. Hinata’s palms would have clenched into fists if they could; They curled up anyway, the takoyaki container in his hand getting crushed into a sticky ball of cardboard pulp and Bull-dog sauce. 

“Man, you’re good at this. You almost had me going there for a while.” Strained voice notwithstanding, Hinata thought he’d done a good job of not freaking out.

“Hm, what do you mean? I’m not joking, Hinata-kun.” Komaeda opened a lazy eye to stare at Hinata inquisitively.

Hinata gathered from their free time together that Komaeda was a bit crazy, but this was a whole new level of insane. “What do you mean, hurt yourself? There are so many things wrong with that!” He stomped his way to the trash can and flung the sticky-saucy wad of cardboard in. The bin almost tipped over from the force of impact.

Komaeda wilted. “It’s how my pathetic self gets by, Hinata-kun. I am no match for everybody’s ultimate talent, so I just do what I can to try to keep up...” This wasn’t helping, either. Now Komaeda was just being too depressed to yell at.

“Look, you’re not trash, or pathetic, or any of those other negative things that you call yourself.” Hinata made to put a comforting arm around Komaeda’s shoulder, but froze mid-way once he realized his hand was still a mess from his snack. Ugh. This was getting really annoying. 

He moved towards the shore and swished his hand into the water to clean it. “I just think that maybe there’s a healthier way to deal with— OW!!!” Something  _ bit _ him! He raised his hand above the water to get a look at the offender.

A jabbacrab stared back at him, pincer clinging onto his flesh like a lifeline. Of course. Must’ve thought that his hand was a giant ball of takoyaki, that fucker. At least yesterday’s episode steeled him for  _ this _ encounter. 

With a forceful downward motion, Hinata landed the crab down onto the sand and added it to his bucket: one feisty jabbacrab collected. His hand still hurt, but it was the kind of pain that receded in the background after a while. There was a victorious whoop behind him, and then the faint scent of antiseptic, followed by the warmth– and closeness– of a hug.

“See? It’s not that hard!” Komaeda was all smiles again, as if he wasn’t seriously threatening Hinata’s personal space. Hinata could feel the other boy’s quickening breath on the nape of his neck. “That was some really good technique. You should try that a couple more times before we try to find good luck!”

Hinata would have left there and then were it not for the boy’s sunny grin. Komaeda still had that glazed look, but his formerly pale face had considerably brightened. A few more minutes of jabbacrab warfare in exchange for that was starting to sound reasonable. 

What was that old proverb about sailing a boat that you’ve already boarded? Hinata plunged his hand back into the shallows. Sure enough, a crab came at him.

This continued for some time. At some point Hinata couldn’t even feel his fingers anymore. But what the heck? Komaeda had managed to work himself into a frenzy, cheering and clapping with energy that the sickly boy had never shown before. After a particularly fierce crustacean split one of Hinata’s fingernails, Komaeda had apparently decided that it was enough.

He stood up from where he was sitting, leaving his hoodie. “That should be enough bad luck for the day! We can focus on trying to draw your good luck out now.” The boy patted his hoodie in the sand. “You can rest here if you want.” Komaeda moseyed along the shoreline, gathering jabbaclams into several plastic buckets. 

Exhausted, Hinata laid down on the sand and took a nap. After what felt like two seconds, he was shaken awake by Komaeda who was clutching bucketfuls of jabbaclams. It was nearing sunset.

“Here’s yours,” a bucket was put in front of Hinata, “and here’s mine.” Komaeda started opening one of the jabbaclams from his bunch. “Jabbapearls are really rare, but if I try to manipulate my luck the whole bucket of them will have pearls!” Sure enough, a pearl glistened in the moonlight as the first clam was opened. And another, and another… it was only a few minutes in and Komaeda already had a small mountain of jabbapearls beside him.

Hinata followed suit and pried open the topmost jabbaclam. He hadn’t really been assigned this task before so he wasn’t sure if he was doing it right; he couldn’t see the glistening roundness of the pearl at all. It took him a while to realize that it was because there actually was no jabbapearl inside. Furious, he made his way through the bucket at top speed– all were empty.

What the hell. His fingers were all sore for  _ nothing _ .

“You missed one last.” Komaeda plucked at a jabbaclam hiding within the shadows of the bucket and deftly broke it open. Hinata didn’t even need to look; he could hear the faint  _ clink  _ of pearl hitting pearl as it landed in the pile with the other ones. 

“To think that I had a pearl in every one of my clams. Hinata-kun, you were really unlucky today!” Komaeda ran a hand through his unruly hair and sighed.

 

~

 

“You’re telling me to hit myself with a hammer.”

“It’s just a toy hammer, for the mice. There isn’t anything less damaging in Nezumi Castle’s armory.” Hinata saw Komaeda longingly eyeing a weapon that looked like a ghastly cross between a flail and a spear. He didn’t really like where that look was going.

“Nagito.” Komaeda stiffened, as if he wasn’t used to anybody calling him by his first name. Well, that was a good distraction as any. “What part should I hit?”

“Any part should be fine.” With his attention snatched from the spear-hybrid thing, Komaeda turned to face Hinata. What was up with those glazed eyes? And was he… sweating? 

It was pretty weird, but then Komaeda had weirdness in spades, so Hinata decided to push that thought aside for the present concern. For all the hammer was a “toy”, it sure didn’t feel like it. He had decided to hit around the same area that got the brunt of the jabbacrabs’ damage. There must be some sort of limit to the pain that you could feel from these things; Tsumiki could fix it up later. Hopefully.

Several thumps, yells, and bursts of pain later, Komaeda led Hinata to a ledge right next to a white banner. There were lower ledges further down, but it looked like the banners next to them had been ripped off; only the floor-to-ceiling banners remained, such as the one they were currently next to.

“Nidai-san and Owari-san are usually the ones in charge of jumping up and tearing the banners down for cloth, but they overworked themselves and Tsumiki-san said it would take three days for them to recover. So I gave it a try!” Nagito pointed to a section of the stone brick, looking a little smug. At first glance, it looked like a plain old castle wall; squinting closer, Hinata could see the hangings of where a banner could have once been. It had been torn clean off, getting as much of the cloth as possible.

“And that was your first time?” Impressive.

“Someone else had gotten picked over me for cleaning duty that day. And it was so hot out, walking here was a pain.” Hinata remembered that day; Komaeda looked surprised, betrayed even, as he stared at the marked chopstick he drew. Everybody else was knocked out, holed up at the Rocketpunch Mall, or on cleaning duty, but one of them had to go to Nezumi Castle or else they wouldn’t finish Usami’s request. 

A search party ended up having to find him come dinnertime; Komaeda was sprawled on the cold stone floor, unconscious. All around him was 5 peoples’ worth of supplies. They managed to finish the Usami phone straps with the exact amount of cloth. Hinata felt a little stab of guilt when he remembered that Komaeda had to rest for a long time to even be able to walk again.

“Don’t feel bad about what happened.” Komaeda waved his hand dismissively, leaning against the wall. “It was the only way someone unworthy like me could ever live up to the task. To be useful.” His whole face was dazed and confused, like a re-realization had stabbed him in the gut. Hinata couldn’t stand it. He reached out…

and tripped his feet on the narrow ledge, hurtling headfirst to the ground.

There was a vague  _ whoosh _ of air made by Komaeda’s arms as he made to reach for his leg and missed. A loud yelp from above signalled that Komaeda had overbalanced and met a similar fate as his. Hinata tried to grab for the banner, in vain; he tried again and again, scrabbling for purchase on the heavy cloth. His fingernail caught on a bit of fabric and  _ held _ , for what could have been half a second but felt like a year of burning friction, dispersing dust, and dispersing dust. It slowed him down enough that Komaeda caught up with him during the fall, pressing against his back and stretching his arms out enough to get a hold of the edges of the fabric to detach it and decelerate them just enough to land safely, buried under a pile of dusty cloth on the castle floor.

They laid very still for a while. 

Hinata started mentally checking– no broken bones, no bleeding, nothing hurt a lot.  (Somehow, checking for injuries every time he came to consciousness felt familiar, like an old routine or habit.) He fought to swallow down a burst of slightly manic laughter, thought better of it, and let go. Komaeda joined in, voice muffled from the banners. The arms holding on to the banner were now wrapped around Hinata’s frame, and he found that he didn’t really want the other boy to let go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real life and school decided to say hi and I realized that a weekly update schedule just wasn't possible for me. I'm gunning for updating bi-weekly to monthly, depending on my drive. 
> 
> Thank you to dixiensept, my bffsy for life slash beta. She has a tumblr by the same name, check her out guys. If there's still anything that should be corrected, please leave me a comment! Thanks.


	3. Chapter 3

The following day found them at Electric Ave. Souda was tinkering away at the parts corner, messing around with some AI chips salvaged from the shop. “Soul bro,” HInata started tentatively. He was still on the fence about the nickname Kazuichi thought up for them.

Kazuichi looked up with a shark-like grin. “Soul bro! Hey, watch this.” He fiddled with one of the chips and pressed it against a different circuit. There was a faint spark before a tinny voice rang out: ‘I’m Usami! Teeheehee!’ 

“That’s amazing! How long did it take you to do that?” said Hinata, mystified. Beside him, Komaeda looked downright bored. He started tinkering with the wires on the floor. Encouragingly, Hinata added, “I’m sure Sonia would love it.”

“You really think so?” Kazuichi’s face lit up. He spent a good ten minutes trying to teach Hinata the mechanism. Everything was jargon to Hinata; he couldn’t understand a thing. He continued to smile and nod for Souda, though. As Kazuichi kept waving the circuit parts around and talking, white noise began to build up in Hinata’s head. 

He could see Kazuichi’s mouth moving, but heard an entirely different voice. Dimly, he watched as Souda reached for a wire at the foot of the table. He made his way closer to Hinata, talking animatedly the whole time. His face kept getting nearer. His mouth kept moving while the voice in Hinata’s head mumbled in tune. It was all the same jargon, but it was so much easier to understand that  _ by using integrated circuit LM3909 of NS͝ ̀wi͡th louds̛pȩaker̴ ͢2̶5̸Ω͞ ŕe͟si̶sta̴ncȩ ͏a̕nd ̴a̷ ̸9V b͏a̕ţtery̸ t̴he ̵sou͢n̕d is͡ g͝e̷n̢erated ͝by t̀he̕ resonance͝ ̵of t̵h̷é ̵so̢und̴ co͏il͏ f̛͘r̴oḿ́ ̢͜t̨he̵͞ ̕l͝ó̷̴ud̵s̴p̕ę͘a̵̛͏k͞e͟r͏ a͠ǹ̨͘ḑ͏ ̀͢ţ́h̕e͞ ̧͞b̀e͢st͜ a͟͡u̕͠͠d̕͏͝i̴ó̵̢ ́q̵͘u̢͞al͘͠i̡͡ty̷͜ ̨c҉̀͢an͞͏̸ b͜͟e̵̵ ̢̀at͏t̶ai̵̵n̕ȩ͡d͟ ̕w҉͘h̷é͝n̢ ̶t̢h̡e ̷͠c̴̶̢i̸r̵̛c͠ui͞t̶̵̨ ̷̧i̧͜s̨͢ ̷͘ho͢҉u̸̷͟s҉è̡d͘ ̸̕͝in͏̷͢ ͡a͜ ͘b҉o̸̷x͡͡ ǫ̶̸f̶͟ ̸6̷̛̛̭̻̺̮̮ͅ4̛͚̼͈̭̩ ͡͏̦̮͢c̜u̡̫͇͟͡ḅ̷̢̙̥̦̝̙i̸̡̟̞͍̭̤̤ͅc̻̝̩ ͖͍̦̬ͅi̗̠̲̜̻n̪̫ͅc̜͙h̢̖̖e̤̰̣̲̕͡͝ͅs̸̥̣̭ ̘͚̲̙̞́͢ͅp̳͖̕͝l̷̷͓̣̺̤̪y̢̲̠̯̗͇̕w̧͖̮̺̺̦̞̺͘͟oo̜̠̻̠̤̟̳͟–̢͚̙͔͞– _

There was a crackle and a snap before Kazuichi’s wire exploded into sparks. Instinctively, both boys backed away. Souda’s loud yelp broke Hinata from his trance; the mechanic threw the wire on the floor and let out a shaky sigh. “Man, that sucks. That probably toasted all of our batteries.”

“Whoops, my bad luck strikes again.” Komaeda said nonchalantly. He let go of the hand that was holding onto the other side of the wire, dusted himself off, and stood up. “And that was really informative, but I’m afraid someone like me wouldn’t even be able to begin to understand what you said.” 

Komaeda strode closer, deftly maneuvering himself between the two boys. “I’m sorry, Souda.” He smiled apologetically. “Hinata and I can replace the batteries, can’t we, Hinata?” The air seemed to feel several degrees colder around him.

“O-oh it’s no problem, man!” Kazuichi stammered, scrambling to collect the parts that had fallen. He dumped everything into a paper bag and stuffed it in his pocket. “Anyway, I guess I should be going to lunch. If you find any new batteries, let me know!”

As Komaeda waved at Kazuichi’s retreating form, Hinata couldn’t help but feel that he missed something. He’d been feeling that a lot, recently. But there was no point in thinking about it too hard; it just made his head hurt. “Kazuichi mentioned that we needed more batteries,” Hinata blurted out.

“Yes, he did.” Komaeda gave him an analyzing stare. He reclined on the seat stolen from Kazuichi. Casually, “Did you understand anything from what Souda said? It might help us make more of those AI chips for the key straps.”

“No, I didn’t… understand at all.”

“That’s alright, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.” Komaeda smiled, and they got on with their work.

Hinata should have seen this coming: Komaeda somehow managed to find a giant box full of batteries, while he couldn’t find a single working one. “You can help me check if these batteries work, if you want,” Komaeda offered, tongue darting out to lick at the end of a battery. Hinata followed the movement, eyes widening and face flushing as the other boy’s tongue tongue flicked at the anode. Komaeda grimaced in distaste, but reached out for another battery to lick. 

Hinata tore his eyes away from Komaeda’s tongue. “I’d rather not, thanks.” He got the hell out of there before he could feel even more weird.

The voyeur corner reminded him too much of watching Komaeda lick batteries, and Kazuichi had already rooted through the Cellphone corner, so Hinata settled for the Laptop corner. Maybe he could find some detachable laptop batteries. It wouldn’t hurt to collect them if Kazuichi knew how to divide them by mAh to create even more batteries. And if he didn’t Hinata could just make it by himself, so…

Huh.

How did he know that?

He mentally went through the steps while rifling through the laptops. In a few minutes, he was able to find one that was already broken. Gently, the battery case was pried open with deft hands.  _ Wired in parallel, _ said his mind, as he nimbly  _ (or numbly? What was happening?) _ parted each battery from the circuit without electrocuting himself. He only became aware of the fog in his head as it started to lift; after what seemed like a farewell caress, and it flitted away. He found himself with six 1҉86̶50̕ lit͘h͢ium ͝io͟n batteries. How he knew, he had no idea.

He handed them over to Komaeda, who promptly licked the batteries and pronounced them delicious (and dead). Hinata sort of grew to expect that anyway, so it didn’t annoy him as much. But it still stung.

Komaeda wasn’t showing signs of being finished with the box full of batteries soon (so far, all the batteries he “tested” were at full power), so Hinata spent the rest of his time looking over the laptops. There was a working one which looked like it belonged to Usami. She was apparently a bit of a writer; Hinata sat on a chair and swung his legs as he read her Usami X File (deleted ideas?). It was a fanciful story, about “The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History.” He didn’t have anything against Usami’s writing, but he was glad that she trashed this. A slow descent to despair without anything stopping it? That had to be pretty boring.

 

~~~

 

Komaeda’s day was going great so far. They were finishing Good Ship Usami at a fairly quick pace, so he didn’t need to feel bad about taking the day off. He could feel the relief in the Ultimates, too; Kazuichi’s 4-D shopping basket certainly made this task easier than it was supposed to be. After the mad rush they did to finish the cellphone straps, taking it slow was welcomed. The hopeful aura shared by everybody permeated the air and made it sweet.

There was also Komaeda’s crudely-fashioned broom. Even if it could never be on par with the other Ultimates’ items, he loved it just as much. There was something very rustic about the wooden broom, dangerously bordering on kitschy after Hinata had helped him varnish the handle. “This is so your hands don’t get splintered,” Hinata had said. Komaeda decided right then and there that it would be called the hope broom. The very thought of using it made him sweep a little faster.

And, just now, Hinata was holding up an event ticket to his face. “Do you want to go?” Hinata seemed to be anxious. As if he should be for a person like Komaeda! 

“Of course. Where should we go today?” Komaeda asked. He put on his best smile. His day kept on getting even better.

Hinata thought for a moment, then said, “How about the library?” Did that mean Hinata knew his favorite places? He truly was blessed.

The walk to the library was glorious. The sun shone brightly on yet another summer day, If he got any luckier, maybe the time would finally come for everyone to kill each other and build up an even greater hope. But that probably wasn’t in the cards. He was actually a bit scared now; his luck had been going so well that he was already behind schedule for bad luck. If he allowed it to build up like this, it could snowball into something truly devastating.

But for now, Hinata had just held his hand and Komaeda figuratively died, and woke up realizing it was a dream, and died again. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if he could savor all of these good things for a day. Besides, he couldn’t think of anything so awful that it could ruin such a perfect time. 

For such an over-the-top beginning, the last couple of days were rather dull. It was bad luck to get involved in this, but to have Hajime to look forward to felt like absolute good luck. Could they have balanced each other out? The thought lingered in his head as they stepped into the library.

“All right, let’s look for hidden treasure.” Hinata commanded, using his library voice. His eyes were straying to one of the monokuma statues; Komaeda already saw the bit of plastic peeking out from under it and felt utterly delighted. Smiling, he played along.

“Oh, I see… so there’s hidden treasure here?” Komaeda started in the opposite direction of the monokuma statue. “As long as I’m with you, I’m sure we’ll definitely find it.”

“Too bad you aren’t getting any help from me.” Hinata said teasingly. He sat on a chair and rested his feet on the table.

That would be for the best, Komaeda thought. He didn’t want Hajime to get caught up in his bad luck and get hit by a stack of books or whatever. He should probably tell him about that, too. Komaeda turned to face the other boy. “Unfortunately, I haven’t experienced any bad luck today yet. Something horrible might happen while we’re exploring… Are you still okay with doing that?”

Hinata blanched a little, but his voice remained stubborn and steady. “I still don’t believe in your luck cycle. Go on, look for the treasure.” Komaeda obliged him. He continued looking in the opposite direction, weaving in and out of bookshelves and ignoring Hinata’s hints. Just before he was about to round the corner and actually go up to the statue, he bumped into a bookshelf. Several books toppled from the overfilled shelf; one even hit him on the head. “Ow!”

“Are you alright?” Hinata’s voice sounded like it was coming closer. Komaeda looked around and felt relieved. Some back luck, at last. At least he was good at cleaning. The first book he picked up didn’t feel like the cover of a book; Komaeda squinted in the darkness of the shelves so he could get a closer look. The Hope’s Peak school seal was embedded on the front.

When Hinata finally got to where he thought Komaeda was, there was nothing but a bunch of scattered books, some opened. The boy, however, was nowhere to be found. Hinata froze when he glimpsed a picture of his face on a file. Bringing it near a window for lighting, he quickly started scanning through it.

The profile contained his basic information such as his date of birth, his height, and so forth. But there was one thing that specifically caught Hinata’s eye. Under where his talent should've been, were the words “Reserve Course Student”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sticking with calling them Komaeda and Hinata from now on because the ship is literally called KomaHina. Mechanical references for Electric Ave. are from these two links:
> 
> http://www.instructables.com/id/REUSE-YOUR-OLD-LAPTOP-BATTERY-TO-MAKE-A-POWER-BANK/step5/Separate-The-Cells/  
> and  
> http://www.eleccircuit.com/sound-effects-two-tone-circuit/
> 
> Thank you for keeping on reading! I’m joining a writing club so hopefully that will help make make better fic. :) And my outline for the entire story got lost, so I had to make a new one :( Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed!


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